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July 12, 2005

Home Run Derby

After opening the first round by hitting 24 home runs, it seemed appropriate that Bobby Abreu won the whole thing. ... David Ortiz hit 17 HR in the first round, but only three in the second round. Naturally, I blame Dale Sveum. [Or maybe Bellhorn.]

I figured I'd try scoring the HRD in case Ortiz won the whole thing. Here's Tizzle's first round (x is no swing, O is an out and H is a home run):

Not Quite A News Flash: Chris Berman is a self-absorbed idiot. Hearing his "back back back" shit during a game is annoying; hearing it in a home run derby is torture. Berman actually referred to Ortiz as "Big Pappy" and told us that Andruw Jones was born in the "Netherlands".

Why did Berman feel the need to yell "That one's all the way to Kalamazoo" on a couple of homers that landed only about 10 rows deep in right? Shouldn't the ball have to be hit, oh, I don't know, out of the frigging ballpark to deserve a "description" like that?

Meanwhile, Joe Morgan was all serious, analyzing the batters' swings, explaining about bat speeds and why some players weren't hitting as many home runs. He refrained from describing the various pitches being thrown.

Disgraceful: The ESPN trio of Berman, Morgan and Reggie Jackson blathering nearly all the way through -- and barely acknowledging the existence of -- Hee Seop Choi's first round swings. They actually cut away and missed some of his swings. At one point, one of them said they didn't mean to shortchange Choi's swings, then went right back to the off-topic conversation, with a distant Choi in an inset box on the screen.

I also find it so ironic that everybody was saying that there werent going to be a lot of home runs this year, because of the park and no steriods, and then Abreu immediatly comes out and shatters the record. It's too bad half the batters in it shouldn't have been in there in the first place like Bay and Choi.

Disgraceful is exactly the right word for ESPN's treatment of Choi's appearance in the Derby. Thinking about it now, I'm still outraged about it. There's no justification for it. They even cut away on some or Ortiz's swings when they were talking to Varitek, until Big Papi really got it going. As a viewer, I'm watching to see everyone take their swings. I honestly couldn't care less what Reggie Jackson has to say or even what Varitek has to say at that moment. No disrespect intended to Varitek. It wasn't his fault they were talking to him at that time. It's too much of a distraction.

I really think ESPN scheduled an interview during Jason Bay and Hee Sop Choi on purpose, in order to distract from how out of place those two hitters were in the tournament. Tek's interview during Ortiz - that just didn't make any sense.

According to my notes, after Choi's first HR, Reggie said: "One? I could hit one!"

ESPN also did not say anything as that ball went out (which actually was probably a blessing). Choi's previous swing was not shown at all -- the out # in the box simply changed while we gazed upon Reggie's fat head.